Anyone arriving illegally in the UK will be barred from staying, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in an interview published on Sunday (5), ahead of new legislation due to be put in place this week.
Under pressure from his own MPs to find a solution to the influx of migrants arriving in the UK via the Europe Channel, Sunak has made stopping small boats one of his top five priorities.
“Make no mistake, if you come here illegally you cannot stay,” Sunak told the Mail on Sunday newspaper.
Under current practice, asylum seekers arriving in the UK are often allowed to remain in the country to have their case heard.
A new law to address the problem is expected to be defined on Tuesday, the newspaper reported, after more than 45,000 people made the dangerous crossing last year. Asylum claims in the UK are below the EU average, official data show.
Last year, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson struck a deal to send tens of thousands of migrants, many of them from Afghanistan, Syria or other countries at war, to Rwanda.
The policy faced a legal battle after the first planned deportation flight was blocked by a last-minute injunction granted by the European Court of Human Rights. It was ruled legal by the High Court in London in December, but opponents are trying to appeal that verdict.
Asked on Sky News whether those arriving in the UK illegally would be banned from applying for asylum, Government Minister Chris Heaton-Harris said: “I believe so.”
“If people come to this country illegally, they will be sent back or sent somewhere like Rwanda.”
The Mail on Sunday reported that, under the new law, asylum claims from those arriving in small boats would be deemed inadmissible and they would be removed and permanently banned from returning.
“Our laws will be simple in their intent and practice – the only route into the UK will be a safe and legal route,” Home Secretary Suella Braverman told the Sun on Sunday newspaper.
Heaton-Harris said he believed safer, more legal routes would be made available as part of the plan.
Source: CNN Brasil
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